theborderline.ca

Billboard Top 10 Blues Artist, 2020 IBC Winner, and JUNO Nominee, Canadian singer/guitarist
JW-Jones is known for his high-energy shows!
After winning “Best Guitarist” at the 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Jones
started working on his 12th release ‘Everything Now’, an all-original project with special guest
Jimmie Vaughan, and production by Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar).
“Songs! It’s all about the songs!” said the JUNO-nominated Jones, whose searing axemanship
has been praised in recent years by legendary blues artists Buddy Guy and Chuck Leavell (The
Rolling Stones). “While there are plenty of burning lead guitar solos, I wanted to open up and
get more personal than ever with the lyrics. From the true story ‘Papa’s in the Pen’ to ‘When
You Left’ that I sang with tears rolling down my cheeks about my mother’s passing, these are
stories that I feel like I can finally share through my music.” JW penned the entire album with
Dick Cooper and Gordie.
This album features some heavyweight instrumental support; The Texas Horns, Stanton Moore,
Aaron Sterling, Rob McNelly, and includes unchartered sonic territory for Jones with real strings
on the exceptional ‘To Tell You The Truth (I Lied)”.
The recordings were produced in Austin, Texas with multi-platinum-selling artist and producer
Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, as well as in Ottawa with long-time collaborator Eric Eggleston.
The frequent resident of Billboard’s Top 10 Blues charts and roots radio favourite continues to
accelerate his career momentum to new heights, whether it’s as a personally requested sit-in
with the likes of 8-time Grammy winner Buddy Guy, opening for blues-rock icon George
Thorogood, or entertaining thrilled audiences in 23 countries and four continents.

TOURING BAND:
JOEL OPPONG-BOATENG (DRUMS/VOC) – JACOB CLARKE (ELECTRIC & UPRIGHT BASS/VOC)

Date:30 July 2026 .

Duncan Fremlin has released a new book. Stories Not Fit For The Stage is available by messaging Duncan here: facebook.com/duncan.fremlin

Duncan Fremlin is a musician and a salesman and he would have you believe the banjo is his sales tool. Duncan is also an accomplished storyteller with a treasure chest of good yarns, and songs to go with them. Duncan’s remarkable ride carries on, counting his growin’ up days in Sault Ste. Marie as still dear to him and the city’s then local radio stations as foundational to his acclaimed career. 

Duncan Fremlin has been fronting his band Whiskey Jack since 1977. In the ’80s, Whiskey Jack went on to be mainstays on The Tommy Hunter Show, and then came the recording and touring years with Stompin’ Tom Connors in the ’90s and through to the legend’s passing in 2013. Duncan continues to tour with Whiskey Jack and their show, Stories & Songs of Stompin’ Tom. More popular by the year, all things Stompin’ Tom live on.

Duncan Fremlin authored the 2019 book My Good Times With Stompin’ Tom, not only a must-read for Stompin’ Tom fans but also an insightful, important look at the Canadian recording industry of the day.

Date:29 July 2026 .

Sachia Tasz first gained exposure sharing her experiences with suicide loss and healing on TikTok as Juststay4anotherday, although she is no newcomer to writing and divulging her adventures on paper. Sachia created her first piece of literature at the young age of 13, so it is no surprise that she launched her first official novel THE PATH. With a sequel already in the works, this astonishing author has a bright future ahead. Her hope is to gain momentum in the topic of mental health and plant her footprint in making a difference and bringing awareness.

The Path

Inspired by true events, newly single Sanja was a young and vibrant blonde haired beauty with the world in her hands. The only thing missing was her prince charming and it would not be long until Kayden strutted into a pub one fateful night, transforming her life into a fairytale…. for now. Soon, Sanja would begin to unveil the secrets of Kayden’s past and her happy ever after would come crumbling down. From lust and love, heartbreak, unexpected grief to mind-blowing discoveries, Sanja would have to search for the strength to place all the pieces back together if it was even fathomable.

Date:28 July 2026 .

The Great Lakes Odyssey Radio Hour is broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio)

s5.e6. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour – The Future Of Gardening

Adapting to hotter, drier summers, to more intense and erratic storms that increase runoff and pollution, gardeners and farmers in the Great Lakes region are shifting strategies due to environmental change.

Mark Shepard, founder of Restoration Agriculture Development, pioneer of the integration of agroforestry, runoff management, and perennial food systems to create ecologically sound and economically viable farm landscapes.

Rob Croll, Climate Change Program Coordinator and Policy Analyst of the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, on the USA food system’s reliance on imported European honey bees.

Naim Edwards, Director of Michigan State University’s DPFLI, the first urban agriculture center dedicated to research and programming to improve the quality of life for Detroit residents and farmers.

Mark Gane, visual artist and musician, on his album Garden Music, compiled a variety of evocative common plant names and imagined if plants were people, what situations would they find themselves in?

Featured Music: David Laronde. Leanne Simpson. Mark Gane.
Music beds: Mark Gane. Matt Sellick. Doug Wilde.
Theme music: Ray Bonneville. Rusty McCarthy.

Photo by Adriano: Honey Bee

s5.e6. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour Music Credits

Title – Big Five Water
Artist / Composer – Ray Bonneville

Title – Bound For Another Time
Album – Right City Wrong Town
Artist / Composer – David Laronde

Title – Blue Mist
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – St. Mary’s River Fantasy
Album – Nocturnes
Artist / Composer – Rusty McCarthy

Title – The Wake
Artist / Composer – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Album – Theory Of Ice

Title – Deadly Nightshade
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Baby’s Breath
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Love Lies Bleeding
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – The Spell
Album – Watching The Sky
Artist / Composer – Matt Sellick

Title – Farruca Del Pelirrojo
Album – Watching The Sky
Artist / Composer – Matt Sellick

Title – Hextopia
Album – The Sixth Dimension
Artist / Composer – Doug Wilde

Title – A Conversation
Album – The Sixth Dimension
Artist / Composer – Doug Wilde

Title – Sketches Of Tomorrow
Album – The Sixth Dimension
Artist / Composer – Doug Wilde

Title – Kiss Me Quick
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Baby’s Breath
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Creeping Charlie
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Bee Balm
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Naked Broom Rape
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Title – Johnny Jump Up
Artist / Composer – Mark Gane
Album – Garden Music

Visit: raybonneville.com

Visit: rustyandmaja.com

Visit: leannesimpson.ca

Visit: restorationag.com

Visit: glifwc.org

Visit: canr.msu.edu/detroitpartnership

Visit: mattsellick.com

Visit: dougwilde.com

Visit: markgane.bandcamp.com/garden-music

This program produced by GLOW Radio Partners in venture with The Borderline Events Co.

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes Odyssey World is a multi-national effort to strengthen and explore our relationship with the natural wonders known as the Great Lakes.

In this part of the project, we have created a multi-part audio series looking at the way the Great Lakes shape our lives, our livelihoods, our health and our culture.

50 years ago, folks in the media and elsewhere were ready to declare the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie “dead.”

The thought so appalled citizens in Canada and the United States, they forced their national governments to act.

Because, of course, the Great Lakes shape the life of both Canada and the United States. And, of course, the Great Lakes are a single system stretching from Duluth to Ottawa and down the St. Lawrence seaway. What happens to any of the Lakes will soon happen to the others.

So, the politicians of 50 years ago negotiated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, “for the purpose of restoring, protecting and enhancing the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes basin.”

50 years later, we can see the agreement worked. We see more fish, cleaner water, and less pollution. Unlike the early settlers and colonials, who mostly saw the Lakes as a resource to tap, we now recognize, like the First Nations, the Lakes are part of our identity. They shape our relationships, our songs and celebrations of place, the way we eat, how we play, and what we make, or sell, or harvest.

50 years since the wake-up call of a burning river, Great Lakes Odyssey wants to learn how we live and love, hurt and restore the incredible gift which is the Great Lakes.

We will explore Great Lakes art and artistic expression, and meet the artists, writers, musicians who make it. We will also dip into Great Lakes history and lore – and learn from the people who have been here the longest and know it the best: The People of the Three Fires, the Anishinaabek.

On our Odyssey around the Great Lakes, we will also hear from people working to prevent poisonous algal blooms or stop the spread of invasive species. We will meet visionaries undoing decades of development that hardened shorelines, emptied marshes and wetlands, and destroyed critical spawning grounds. We will talk to people working to ensure all beings have access to pure drinking water.

Because none of us can live without pure drinking water.

In this wondrous place we call the Great Lakes, we know we are blessed by these Sweet Water Seas. We claim them as our H.O.M.E.S. as the emotionally accurate mnemonic says. They are Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, and they are our HOMES.

As long as humans have lived in, and of and through the Lakes, people have told stories about them, sung about them, and gloried in this great gift of the long departed Ice Age. Left by glaciers thousands of years ago, they are the World’s storehouse of fresh water. If they are drained… or ruined… or damaged, they can never be replaced.

So, as we travel around the Great Lakes basin, we want to see how we are doing – what we are doing – how we’re feeling and what we’re learning as we try to live as lovers and restorers – and children and family – of the being whom the Anishinaabek call Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin, the five freshwater seas.

We hope to galvanize, inspire, and motivate you to strengthen, support and steward the Great Lakes to a beautiful and healthy future.

So please join us on this magical, dare we say “magical mystery tour” of the Great Lakes basin and Great Lakes culture.

Date:26 July 2026 .

Mark Tarantini is a local musician and entertainer performing within the North Shore and Sault Ste. Marie area. Mark grew up on a farm in Echo Bay, Ontario, where he always heard country and western music on the home record player. His parents mostly played the music of the greats, the old country legends and the new ones coming up. The youthful Tarantini took to the sound and to what the songs represented – hard work, solid family and good times.

Mark currently plays in a band with his son, Matthew. Mark is a retired high school teacher and he currently resides in Blind River, Ontario.

Running time: 63 minutes.

Date:23 July 2026 .

Amanda Rheaume, a Citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario, is an award winning singer-songwriter with a slightly gritty, deeply personal and instantly accessible Americana sound.

In title and spirit, The Truth We Hold is a collection of songs of Métis people, places and stories across centuries. A Métis songbook for future generations, the new album maps events, place names and family history with a careful, loving hand, drawing untold and unacknowledged experiences into the light.

Amanda Rheaume is the recipient of the 2024 Spirit of Folk Award, 2023 Canadian Fold Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year and the 2023 Capital Music Awards’ Album of the Year. Rheaume has released six full-length albums to date. Beyond recording and touring, Rheaume continues her ever-expanding role as an essential advocate of Indigenous music infrastructure and community. As a co-founder of Ishkode Records and International Indigenous Music Summit and founding board member of the Indigenous Music Office, a commitment to raising Indigenous sovereignty through the medicine of music motivates all of Rheaume’s work. 

All songs produced and mixed by: Colin Linden
All songs mastered by: Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, New Jersey)
All songs recorded at: Jukasa Studios (Six Nations, Ontario) and Pinhead Recorders Studios (Nashville, TN)

Janice Powers: Production Assistant
Darren Magierowski: Engineer at Jukasa Studios
Jill Zimmermann: Engineer at Jukasa Studios
Scott Dibble: Guitar whisperer
Michael Stankiewicz: Additional engineering

“Rheaume’s voice is a balancing act of strength and vulnerability, cutting right through that welcome road-weary swing of the guitar and drums… great Americana, but even better, Rheaume is continuing to change the canon of what stories that genre tends to tell”

— Holly Gordon, CBC Music

Date:22 July 2026 .

Shirley is only five years old when she is taken away by the Indian agent to live at a residential school.

She loves learning, but she is not there by choice. From the first day walking up the long, lonely stone steps of the school building, life is hard and full of rules. Separated from her brothers and sisters, she is truly on her own. 

Shirley is very brave, but there is no one she loves to hold her at night when she is afraid. No one to tuck her in and comfort her. Shirley keeps going despite the sadness. She makes friends and has adventures. And most of all, she looks ahead to summertime, when she will be able to return to her family and the happiness of home.

The true story of Shirley Horn, a Cree elder and residential school survivor from Northern Ontario. Co-authored and illustrated by Joanne Robertson, it details Shirley’s experience being taken from her family at age five and her life at the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. The inspiring story of a young girl’s resilience and survival at residential school.

Joanne Robertson is Anishinaabe kwe and a member of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. She is a graduate of Algoma University and Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig. Joanne is the author and illustrator of The Water Walker / Nibi Emosaawdang, Nibi is Water, and Shirley: An Indian Residential School Story. She lives north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Date:21 July 2026 .

Willie Johnston fronts the North Bay, Ontario based rock trio, Those Lights. The current band members are Jared Dorkis on bass, Dave White on drums and Willie Johnston on guitar and vocals. The band plays straight ahead rock’n’roll that fits shoulder to shoulder alongside the classic sound of the genre’s best. Songwriting by the group is a collaborative effort that delivers memorable guitar riffs and hooks chock-full in every song.

Those Lights released a six-song EP in 2020, called Future Memories.

For the EP release, members in the tracks are Derek Buffet on drums, Dave White on bass, Jason Hebert on rhythm guitar, Jared Dorkis on keys and Willie Johnston on guitar and vocals.

Date:20 July 2026 .

The Great Lakes Odyssey Radio Hour is broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio)

s5.e5. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour – The Treaties

The Treaties of centuries past continue today as binding agreements between nations and governments that define rights, obligations, and relationships regarding land use, self-government, and coexistence.

Dr. Duke Redbird, Elder from Saugeen Ojibway Nation on the shores of Lake Huron, is a celebrated Indigenous visionary, intellectual and poet, recites a history of Canada with his poem, Colony Felony.

Dr. Karl S. Hele, member Garden River First Nation, is a professor in Canadian Studies with focus on Indigenous history, politics, law, and contemporary issues in areas of research, publication, and teaching.

Dr. Phil Bellfy, PhD, American Indian Studies, author of Three Fires Unity: The Anishinaabeg of the Lake Huron Borderlands, on the history of Indigenous people along that part of the US/Canada border.

Peter White & Joel Syrette, musicians and Native Studies educators, compare published written history with the Indigenous oral telling of the incident at Mica Bay in 1849 that precipitated the Robinson treaties.

Featured Music: Gord Downie. Larry Massie. Peter White & Joel Syrette.
Music beds: The Collecting Consort. Brad Robinson. Ellson Graywell.
Theme music: Ray Bonneville. Rusty McCarthy.

Photo by Adriano: Great Lakes Biinaagami

s5.e5. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour Music Credits

Title – Big Five Water
Artist / Composer – Ray Bonneville

Title – The First Song Of The Anishinaabe
Artist / Composer – Traditional

Title – Far Away And Blurred
Album – Introduce Yerself
Artist / Composer – Gord Downie & Kevin Drew

Title – St. Mary’s River Fantasy
Album – Nocturnes
Artist / Composer – Rusty McCarthy

Title – The Voyageurs
Artist – Larry Massie
Album – The Promise Of Place

Title – Foggy Dew
Album – The Promise Of Place
Artist / Composer – The Collecting Consort

Title – North Shore Ogitchidaa (The Honour Song)
Artist – Brad Robinson
Composer – Traditional

Title – The Women Song
Artist – Brad Robinson
Composer – Traditional

Title – Unforgiving Sun
Album – Collection
Artist – Ellson Graywell

Title – Wayward Piano
Album – Collection
Artist – Ellson Graywell

Title – Mica Bay
Album – Steeped In Stone Live
Artist – Peter White & Joel Syrette
Composer – Peter White

Visit: raybonneville.com

Visit: rustyandmaja.com

Visit: gorddownie.bandcamp.com/album/introduce-yerself

Visit: dukeredbird.ca

Visit: mta.ca/directory/karl-hele

Visit: ellsongraywell.bandcamp.com

Visit: nebraskapress.unl.edu/three-fires-unity

Visit: thepeterwhitewebsite.com

This program produced by GLOW Radio Partners in venture with The Borderline Events Co.

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes Odyssey World is a multi-national effort to strengthen and explore our relationship with the natural wonders known as the Great Lakes.

In this part of the project, we have created a multi-part audio series looking at the way the Great Lakes shape our lives, our livelihoods, our health and our culture.

50 years ago, folks in the media and elsewhere were ready to declare the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie “dead.”

The thought so appalled citizens in Canada and the United States, they forced their national governments to act.

Because, of course, the Great Lakes shape the life of both Canada and the United States. And, of course, the Great Lakes are a single system stretching from Duluth to Ottawa and down the St. Lawrence seaway. What happens to any of the Lakes will soon happen to the others.

So, the politicians of 50 years ago negotiated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, “for the purpose of restoring, protecting and enhancing the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes basin.”

50 years later, we can see the agreement worked. We see more fish, cleaner water, and less pollution. Unlike the early settlers and colonials, who mostly saw the Lakes as a resource to tap, we now recognize, like the First Nations, the Lakes are part of our identity. They shape our relationships, our songs and celebrations of place, the way we eat, how we play, and what we make, or sell, or harvest.

50 years since the wake-up call of a burning river, Great Lakes Odyssey wants to learn how we live and love, hurt and restore the incredible gift which is the Great Lakes.

We will explore Great Lakes art and artistic expression, and meet the artists, writers, musicians who make it. We will also dip into Great Lakes history and lore – and learn from the people who have been here the longest and know it the best: The People of the Three Fires, the Anishinaabek.

On our Odyssey around the Great Lakes, we will also hear from people working to prevent poisonous algal blooms or stop the spread of invasive species. We will meet visionaries undoing decades of development that hardened shorelines, emptied marshes and wetlands, and destroyed critical spawning grounds. We will talk to people working to ensure all beings have access to pure drinking water.

Because none of us can live without pure drinking water.

In this wondrous place we call the Great Lakes, we know we are blessed by these Sweet Water Seas. We claim them as our H.O.M.E.S. as the emotionally accurate mnemonic says. They are Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, and they are our HOMES.

As long as humans have lived in, and of and through the Lakes, people have told stories about them, sung about them, and gloried in this great gift of the long departed Ice Age. Left by glaciers thousands of years ago, they are the World’s storehouse of fresh water. If they are drained… or ruined… or damaged, they can never be replaced.

So, as we travel around the Great Lakes basin, we want to see how we are doing – what we are doing – how we’re feeling and what we’re learning as we try to live as lovers and restorers – and children and family – of the being whom the Anishinaabek call Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin, the five freshwater seas.

We hope to galvanize, inspire, and motivate you to strengthen, support and steward the Great Lakes to a beautiful and healthy future.

So please join us on this magical, dare we say “magical mystery tour” of the Great Lakes basin and Great Lakes culture.

Date:19 July 2026 .

Mudfoot Mike McDonald has traveled the road that calls itself home, the blues. Originally from Nova Scotia, Mudfoot Mike found himself a home in the Toronto music scene for a very long stretch, carving out a slice of Canadian blues history as the in-house music director at legendary Grossman’s Tavern, and often as performer and bandmate on guitar and vocals. It was there where the best of the best would find themselves on stage when they weren’t touring somewhere on the continent or abroad. Mike toured extensively then, less so now, but always then and now with a deep love for the music and a respect earned with on-the-job experience. And stories to tell.

Mudfoot Mike took to songwriting and has penned several tunes over his career, but never officially releasing an album under his own name. The veteran musician and producer is on the road to possibly changing that.

“I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.”

Date:17 July 2026 .